ONE HUNRED PERCENT IN SUPPORT OF A BIG CELEBRATION OF KEN CALEBS OLUMESE

Today, in Saturday Breakfast, I want to thank all those behind the trending social media post, "The Guv is 80!" announcing the 80th birthday celebration of the great Ken Calebs Olumese, scheduled for July 27, 2024. They have my 100% support. Olumese is not a politician, a money man or a big pastor. He is in no position to offer me an appointment, a contract or cast and bind on my behalf but more than any of the politicians, money men or pastors, Ken Calebs Olumese is my man.

Several years ago, I put a call to a number of people whom I believe have the "can do" spirit and the deep appreciation of the unsurpassed work that the Edo born, Ken Calebs Olumese had done in creating friendship across Nigeria and energizing the social development of the Nigerian nation under the banner of "Niteshift" created by him.

I had done a review of the unique concept of Niteshift in a three-part series published in Saturday Breakfast that I called "Bring Back the Niteshift". The series received significant reaction from many people touched by the imagination and creative energy of the guy we all love to call "the Guvnor".

So, the guys I called on the phone responded and for several evenings after work, we huddled at the Boardroom of the former rented COSON office in Opebi Ikeja, not far from Niteshift Coliseum. We ate some chicken suya, downed a few drinks and talked. There was Mayor Akinpelu, publisher of Global Excellence Magazine; Azu Arinze, Publisher of Yes International Magazine and Steve Ayorinde, who had edited the Punch and Mirror Newspapers. There was also Kunle Bakare, Arinze's former boss and publisher of Encomium Weekly; Patrick Doyle, my broadcaster and film maker friend and Victor Eiremokhae, lawyer and former police officer who had remained close to Olumese after many years.

At the meeting, there was complete agreement that Niteshift was a historic Nigerian concept which should not be allowed to die. We concluded that we owed it to our children and to those who visit Lagos, to preserve the concept that for many years brought Nigerians together without any thought of tribe, religion or political affiliation. Yes, we decided to engineer the setting up of a 'Niteshift Trust' with a Board made up of eminent Nigerians that would preserve what Olumese had built. We thought that Olumese should be a consultant to the trust for as long as he wished.

Different assignments were given to different members of the group. Patrick Doyle and I were mandated to visit Ken Calebs Olumese, brief him on our ideas and get his buy-in. We did as we were instructed. As I left the meeting with the Guvnor, I got the feeling that he was elated. A few days after, I had to travel out of the country but I kept calling everyone connected with our plans from wherever I was. Not too long after, my guy, Steve Ayorinde, was appointed Commissioner for Information in Lagos State. He became extremely busy. My brother, Patrick Doyle also became extremely engaged shooting epic movies like "Madam President". Kunle Bakare, Mayor Akinpelu and Azuh Arinze had a fight in their hands keeping their magazines afloat and paying salaries in a rapidly changing world of magazine publishing and a nation in deep recession. Keeping in touch with Victor Eiremokhae with whom I was entrusted with developing the legal framework for the 'Niteshift Trust' was near impossible. Victor who is ordinarily someone you can bet on, any time, any day, was clearly involved with his own challenges.

Bottom line is that our big ideas never got off the ground. I believe that every human being is measured by his fidelity to the words that come out of his mouth. On this one, I failed. It was difficult for me not to feel shame at not following up on the promise we made to Ken Calebs Olumese who never prompted us to float the idea of the Niteshift Trust. I had to publish a Public Apology to the Guvnor on Saturday Breakfast.

Ken Calebs Olumese is a unique Nigerian. While many of his peers deployed their energies and relationships to grab political offices or to put themselves in positions where they would manipulate the weaknesses of Nigeria to rake in billions for themselves, Olumese deployed his incredible passion, creativity, style, hard work and exceptional inter-personal relationships to promote love and friendship among his countrymen. Niteshift was not a night club. It was a family. Few people went to Niteshift just to listen or dance to the music carefully mixed by Segun Roberts or Eddy Jay Omodiagbe. Many went to Niteshift to relate with others, make friends and learn. There was always a serious intellectual input at Niteshift delivered with style and precision.

Some will tell you that Olumese was a businessman. I don't think so. Making money never seemed to me to be his core objective. At Niteshift, Olumese was much more of a giver than a taker. There are many in Nigeria today, who found love, built friendships, molded their careers and got their wings to fly, at Niteshift.

Almost everybody who has been anybody in Nigeria in recent times, in some way, enjoyed the hospitality and warmth of Ken Calebs Olumese. At Niteshift, there was a Grand House Reception for Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria's current President. I am not sure that President Muhammed Buhari was ever at Niteshift but I know that Niteshift hosted his predecessor, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Niteshift also hosted former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar. Olumese held a Grand House Receptions for MKO Abiola, Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana and Muhammed Ali, the 'greatest'. There is a long roll call of would-be governors who passed through Niteshift, whether on Opebi Road or on Salvation Road, on their way to their different State Houses. A good part of what has become known as Nollywood was nurtured by the "Glamour Boys" of Niteshift. The Nigerian music industry also became a great beneficiary of the Niteshift spirit. Put simply, Nigeria, most probably, will never have another Niteshift.

I still believe strongly that our nation owes Ken Calebs Olumese a big national honour. This truly great Nigerian richly deserves it. Let us do the right thing.

Thank you, all my friends who in a big way, are celebrating my guy, the Guvnor no one can impeach, the unassailable Ken Calebs Olumese.

See you next week.

THE VERY POOR PROPAGANDIST AT ACCESS BANK (1)

Two weeks ago, I published a piece in Saturday Breakfast in which I asked, "WILL ACCESS BANK CONTINUE LIKE THIS?" In the 14 years that I have served Saturday Breakfast, no one has accused me of publishing libel or distorting facts. I do not write out of malice or publish falsehood to impugn anybody's character or to destroy anybody's reputation.

I have very rarely responded to any comment or any reaction to any piece I have published. My attitude is that any article I write is a keynote address and any of my readers has the right to dissect the piece anyway he or she chooses, agree or disagree with me or do a rejoinder, if he or she so wishes. I am a staunch believer in the freedom of speech and I am comfortable with my words being impeached with facts.

I however react when it is clear to me that someone has assumed that freedom of speech is freedom to spew nonsense. I have gone to court over and over again to protect my integrity, the greatest asset that I have. That is why I may be the one Nigerian, living or dead, with the highest number of victorious judgments in defamation cases from our courts.

I have decided to react to a widely circulated and lengthy article titled "Herbert Wigwe, Access Bank and the danger of a single story" credited to one Etim Etim who claims that the late Wigwe was his "boss, brother and friend". The article has been brought to my attention by several people. I am not impressed by the attempt of Etim to suggest that his shallow piece drew inspiration from the talented author, Chimamanda Adichie. I would not have credited Etim's propaganda article with a response except that in his article, he placed me in a group of people whose "cruelty and depravity" in spawning "falsehoods against an innocent man even in moments of immense tragedies and pain is unfathomable". Etim Etim went ahead to put me among the people he says "are out to inflict pain by fabricating lies and malicious propaganda against the dead. Their intention is to destroy the memory of the dead banker, inflict pain on his aged parents, business partners and damage the reputation of the businesses he left behind".

I do not know if the all-knowing Etim Etim read two of the opening paragraphs of my article, "WILL ACCESS BANK CONTINUE LIKE THIS?". In the paragraphs, I wrote the following: "Today, it is with a heavy heart, a very heavy heart that I write this special edition of Saturday Breakfast. I do not celebrate the misfortune of anyone because in our life's journey, each of us will meet our ups and downs. I cannot celebrate the death of anyone because some day, each of us will die. I have no idea when it will be my turn and how it will happen.

"In Igbo land where I come from, to bury a child is considered about the worst thing that can happen to anyone. In my part of the country, a parent is not even allowed to see the corpse of his or her child. I can therefore imagine the excruciating pain that must come from an aged mother and father burying their cherished son, a daughter-in-law and a grandson, all at the same time. I therefore join the many who have extended their condolences to the Wigwe family of Isiokpo on the recent helicopter crash in California which resulted in the deaths of their son, Herbert, his wife and son. I pray that the good Lord will give them the fortitude to bear the loss".

Yes, I wrote in the article that I am not a hypocrite or a sycophant who will pretend that there are no lessons to be learned from what has happened or that no big mistakes have been made. I don't know if Etim Etim, the poor propagandist at Access Bank, is seeking to buy favour from the new managers of Access Bank by whitewashing the crystal-clear errors that even a blind man can see. It is possible that Etim is seeking promotion in his career with the carcass of my reputation as part of his CV. What is certain is that he has set out to distort my credibility with blatant falsehood. Etim Etim may have heard of me but he clearly does not know me. If his gambit is to shut me up, somebody should tell him that it will not work!

In response to my question about the propriety of naming the emerging university at Isiokpo, "Wigwe University", Etim Etim, the public relations 'guru', wrote, "Why did Herbert name the university after his family? This is as silly a question as it can get. Organisations and institutions are named after their founders as a mark of honour or memorabilia to the memory of the founder or the family. Herbert is proud of the Wigwe family he hailed from, and the university was appropriately named to give honour to the family, just as Harvard (the oldest institution of higher learning in the US is named after John Harvard); Yale (named after Elihu Yale); Obafemi Awolowo University; Ahmadu Bello University, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, etc are named after great personalities".

What Etim Etim refused to see with his tasteless propaganda is that in NONE of the cases he referred to was a university named by the founder after himself or his family while he was alive. If he had spent a little time to do simple research before rushing to publish what he must have thought was a PR masterpiece, he would have found out that the great Harvard University in Cambridge Massachusetts was neither established nor named by Rev John Harvard. It was indeed the Great and General Court of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay that approved the money for the establishment of the school. In 1639, the institution was named Harvard University, in memory of John Harvard who had provided in his will that upon his death, the school be given half of his estate and his entire library. It was the noteworthy bequest that led the school to honor him by taking his name.

In similar manner, the other ivy league university in the US, Yale University, in New Haven Connecticut, was not established by Elihu Yale. It was in 1701 that the Connecticut legislature adopted a charter "to erect a Collegiate School." The school became known as Yale College, seventeen years after, in 1718. It was renamed in honor of the Welsh merchant, Elihu Yale, who had donated to the school the proceeds from the sale of nine bales of goods together with 417 books and a portrait of King George.

Coming home, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) and Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) are all Federal Government owned institutions named after national heroes following their deaths. Obafemi Awolowo University used to be known as University of Ife. In 1962 when Ahmadu Bello University was established, it was called the University of Northern Nigeria. UNIZIK was established after the death of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

A university is not a trading company. No serious university anywhere in the world is likely to be named Etim Etim & Sons University. Bishop David Oyedepo did not name Covenant University after himself. Pastor Enoch Adeboye did not name Redeemers University after himself. Pastor Kumuyi did not name the Anchor University after himself. The one exception is Igbinedion University in Okada. If Etim Etim considers that a great example, it says a lot about his values.

To further drag my name into the mud, Etim Etim has deployed blatant falsehood and half-truths from the pit of hell to mislead his patrons. He has turned facts upside down and stated in his mischievous article full of tautology that "Tony Okoroji's claim that Access Bank has deliberately withheld COSON's funds is a deliberate fabrication and obfuscation of information just to hoodwink the public and impugn the characters of those involved. The fact is that some members of COSON - Premier Music, Ivory Music and Pretty Okafor - have sued COSON and the bank seeking to restrict the accounts of COSON. The case is still in court, and as a senior lawyer in Access Bank's Legal Department told me, ''in keeping with the legal doctrine of Lis Pendis, the bank as a responsible corporate citizen cannot take any steps that will tie the hands or foist a fait accompli on the court''.

No!!! The case was struck out by the Court on February 6, 2019, more than five years ago! (To be continued).

See you next week.

WILL ACCESS BANK CONTINUE LIKE THIS?

For close to 14 years, I have served Saturday Breakfast every Saturday morning without fail. I have written about my good times and my not so good times. I have celebrated love and happiness and have shared with you my moments of pain and sadness and even the deaths of colleagues, close friends and family members. I have dealt with issues related to the creative industry and have poured out my heart about Nigeria, our country, which continues to slip from bad to worse and is rapidly turning into a horror movie.

I have written about politics and leadership at home and abroad and how the actions of a few affect the lives of many. In the last few weeks, I have delved into the intricate matter of copyright, its twists and turns, a subject to which I have dedicated a substantial part of my life because of my strongly held belief that intellectual property will play a critical role in the future of mankind.

Today, it is with a heavy heart, a very heavy heart that I write this special edition of Saturday Breakfast. I do not celebrate the misfortune of anyone because in our life's journey, each of us will meet our ups and downs. I cannot celebrate the death of anyone because some day, each of us will die. I have no idea when it will be my turn and how it will happen.

In Igbo land where I come from, to bury a child is considered about the worst thing that can happen to anyone. In my part of the country, a parent is not even allowed to see the corpse of his or her child. I can therefore imagine the excruciating pain that must come from an aged mother and father burying their cherished son, a daughter-in-law and a grandson, all at the same time. I therefore join the many who have extended their condolences to the Wigwe family of Isiokpo on the recent helicopter crash in California which resulted in the deaths of their son, Herbert, his wife and son. I pray that the good Lord will give them the fortitude to bear the loss.

I am however not a hypocrite or a sycophant who will pretend that there are no lessons to be learned from what has happened or that no big mistakes have been made. I have read many tributes and reviews in which the late Herbert Wigwe has been described as a great banker.

My understanding of banking is that it is really a very conservative profession. Bankers are supposed to know that the money they control does not belong to them. The money belongs to their customers who entrust their money to the banks to protect and return to them once the demand is made. Bankers are not supposed to exhibit a lifestyle which may suggest affluence or wealth or that the money in their hands is unsafe. For instance, a good banker is not to be seen at any party spraying money effusively. Unfortunately, Nigerian bankers are today struggling for celebrity status on Facebook and Instagram with Davido, Burna Boy and Flavour!

I am not so sure if it has become acceptable for a "great" banker in a poor nation like Nigeria, to be associated with sprawling mansions, private jets, chattered helicopter rides and very expensive Super Bowl tickets.

When I saw the repeated advertising of 'Wigwe University' on CNN, I was worried. My first question was: "Where did all this big money come from?". My second was: "Why was the university not named 'Grand University', 'Excellence University', 'Progress University' or any of a thousand names that can be found in the dictionary?" Why not Isiokpo University or even Access University? I am in the creative industry and understand the pitfalls of unbridled self-promotion.

It is no longer news that in the past six years, I have been engaged in a never-ending battle with Access Bank over money belonging to innocent Nigerian musicians in Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) held by Access Bank. I was begged by bank officials to open the account. We did not borrow one kobo from Access Bank. We do not owe Access Bank one Naira. Till today, nobody has explained to me how COSON money became Access Bank's money. Astonishingly, Access Bank has looked for every silly reason to hold on to our money, trade with it at no cost to the bank while the money rapidly loses value. If not for the deft management of its leadership, COSON would have been shut down and our staff dispersed into the labour market because of the treachery of Access Bank.

During the COVID 19 lock down, COSON distributed stipends in millions of Naira to its thousands of members across Nigeria. Just recently, we began distributing palliative royalties in millions to our members across the country to help them, in whatever way, to cushion the shock and challenges of the present Nigerian economy. We could not lay our hands on our members' money at Access Bank to distribute to them. The beneficiaries of this distribution are not just the famous musicians you see on TV. Majority of them are struggling Nigerians. Some are widows whose husbands died as COSON members and some are orphans. That does not appear to matter to the people at Access Bank.

I have been to court at least 25 times because of Access Bank, sometimes on the witness stand, other times facing cross-examination by their big-time lawyers. Justice Hassan of the Federal High Court (now at the Court of Appeal) on February 6, 2019, struck out the frivolous suit which Access Bank was hiding behind, to seize the money belonging to its loyal customer. We thought that our nightmare was over. For where? Officers of Access Bank deployed every subterfuge imaginable and kept shifting the goal post, to hold on to the money belonging to COSON members. On May 4, 2022, Justice Yellin Bogoro of the Federal High Court ordered Access Bank to return the money belonging to COSON and its members and to pay damages to COSON for the "illegal and unlawful" freezing of COSON accounts. Did that Court Order move Access Bank? For where? For some reason, Access Bank behaves like it is above the law. We even had to demonstrate on the streets about our treatment by Access Bank.

What is happening in Nigeria is not banking. It is bare faced robbery. You may hear about the COSON experience because of the nature of COSON and its determination to recover its money. There are thousands of Nigerian individuals and institutions whose funds are trapped in banks and who will never get their money back and who lack the ability to complain. A lot of them are widows and orphans whose bread winners have died with their money left in banks. It is their money that Nigerian bankers are deploying in Ikoyi mansions, state of the art automobiles and celebrity lifestyles.

Why is there so much hunger in the land? One of Nigeria's biggest problems is that less than a hundred unproductive people have cornered over 90% of the money in Nigeria by manipulating the system. Millions of Nigerians are suffering and scrambling for the crumbs. Why is the national currency in a free fall? For many years, some of our so-called bankers have just been engaged in the round tripping of the dollar. They buy foreign exchange at special rates from the CBN and sell it at the black market and in a few hours make obscene profits. The exchange rate goes up like an Olympic pole vaulter and inflation sky- rockets. Some of these people have more money than their states and have absolute contempt for the rule of law and if we must face it, have become serious security risks.

Did you notice how quickly Access Bank publicly announced a replacement for Herbert Wigwe? Wow! Does that not tell you that all the show is vanity?

In my battle with Access Bank, I have stated clearly that Access Bank may continue to operate without a conscience. They can go on ignoring the decisions of our Courts but the money they think they have made with their misbehavior will be phantom money that cannot be spent on anything good or enduring. In a meeting I once held with some of their representatives, a young man who is a senior member of staff in the legal department of the bank boasted to me that they have the resources to take COSON to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court and by the time they are done, the COSON money will have no value anymore. What they may have forgotten is that there is the Court of the Almighty where no one escapes justice.

There are several gentlemen at Access Bank that I kept reaching out to, pleading with them to release the money belonging to COSON members that Access Bank has been holding for no just cause. One of them was Abdul Imoyo, Access Bank's Media Relations Head. They all ignored my plea. Sadly, Imoyo died in December, a week before last Christmas. A month and a few weeks later, the tragic events in California happened.

I have never been to a juju priest before neither have I ever prayed for the death of anyone. I however worship the God of Justice and I am certain that if Access Bank does not change its ways and immediately lift the pain and suffering it has imposed on its customers including COSON members, the bank might think it is growing bigger but the God of Justice who is not afraid of anyone, will do justice. Have you ever witnessed a tiny pin burst a mighty balloon?

See you next week.

HAS THE CONTEST FOR THE PRESIDENCY OF AMERICA BECOME A REALITY TV SHOW?

This time eight years ago, very few people gave Donald J. Trump a beggar's chance of getting anywhere near the White House. The pundits said that he was a joke. The media wrote him off. The polls said he was dreaming. No one who worked hard to make his money would have bet a cent in any of Trump's failed casinos across America that Donald Trump would become the 45^th President of the United States of America.

In November 2016, what looked like a joke became reality! Donald J. Trump was announced President-elect of the United States of America, the most powerful office in the world. Surprise! Surprise! The American people, deploying their fairy-tale electoral college system told the world that they had elected as their president the trash talking man who spews obscenities as much as he openly sprouts divisions and cultural wars.

The former United States First Lady, former New York Senator and former U.S. Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton received about three million more votes from the American people than Donald Trump in the elections but come and see 'America wonder', a guy who was that badly worsted at the polls, a guy who has run his companies four times into bankruptcy and has been married to three different women was announced winner of the election.

Imagine if that had happened in an African country, Donald Trump would have immediately picked up his smart phone and gone to his Truth Social platform and fired off messages to deride the country as a 'shit hole country' with no respect for the basic tenets of democracy - majority rule.

On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump moved into the White house and it was unending chaos. In four years, he was impeached twice. After losing the 2020 Presidential elections, he took every crazy step to hold on tightly to the White House. Clutching fiercely to his refusal to concede, he went to practically every court in America and lost and lost and lost. On January 6, 2021, he unleashed his supporters on the US Capitol in an unprecedented insurrection to disrupt the constitutional process of vote counting required to hand over to his successor, Joe Biden. The world watched in horror as the violent chaos unfolded in Washington DC.

With the problems in Nigeria, you may wonder why I write so much about America. I have always been fascinated by America. For much of my lifetime, America has been seen as the moral compass of the world, promoting democracy, human rights and fighting autocratic regimes, evil, hunger and disease across the world. I doubt if there is any family in Nigeria which does not have an important bread winner living in America. People around the world have looked up to America to show us the way. America used to be seen as the leader of the free world. What happens in America concerns me.

I have always known that some Americans can be "one kind" but I never thought there were so many 'crazy' people in America who would crown Donald Trump as the leader of the free World. The amazing thing is that many of those who propelled Donald Trump's journey to the White House are the bible quoting Christian conservatives. How could this group consider this man whose behaviour is so unchristian, to be one of them and accept him as promoting their values? This is the same man whose own niece, Mary Trump with a Doctorate in Psychology, refers to as the most dangerous man in the world.  

Donald Trump has shown us the power of Reality TV and the smart phone. In the world of Reality TV, there is no bad news. Bad news is good news. Donald Trump, the star of NBC's Reality TV show, "the Apprentice" understands that in the crazy Reality TV world, all you need is to be in the news. And so, the Donald swears, curses, and wagers his fingers at everyone and if you are not discerning, you are captivated! He is not just in the news all the time, he is the news and many not quite discerning Americans clap and cheer. They may think that they are watching Reality TV. What they may not understand is that if this weird fella to whom nothing is sacred and who is lashing out at all the institutions that have made America stable, is not challenged, it will be hard reality for their children and grandchildren to continue to have a nation that they will be proud of. The entire world would have lost America, the important world leader.

In November 2024, Americans will go the polls again. Almost every poll says that Donald Trump will once again be the presidential candidate of the Republican party.

As I write, Donald Trump is facing 91 criminal charges across the states of Florida, New York, Georgia and Washington DC. If he is found guilty in any of these charges, he could be sentenced to many years in prison. He is also a defendant in a civil suit in New York in which his company has already been found to have engaged in fraudulent activities. In the suit, New York State is claiming $250,000,000 from the Trump Organization. The organization could also face the closing down of its operations in New York.

In May 2023, a jury in New York found Donald Trump liable of sexually abusing columnist, Jean Carroll, and ordered him to pay the sum of $5 million as damages to her. Meanwhile about 400 Trump supporters who took part in the January 6 insurrection have been convicted and sent to jail.

None of the above has slowed down the overwhelming support of millions of the grass roots of the American Republican party, for Donald Trump. I do not know that it will make any difference if Donald Trump is found guilty of committing murder.

The American Presidential election is turning out to be a reality TV show. Incumbent American president, Joe Biden is not a good showman. He has found himself playing in the turf of the master of Reality TV. How will the battle end?

See you next week.     

IS DECEMBER REALLY HERE?!

Truly… truly… is December really here? Yesterday, my phone was full of 'Happy New Month' messages from friends and well-wishers, all announcing that December has arrived. Ordinarily, December should be the month of happiness, the month of celebrations. It used to be the month to count one's blessings and give glory to the Almighty.

Before the cellphone revolution and the emergence of sms, and WhatsApp messaging, mail men everywhere would by now be busy delivering greeting cards to one and all. I used to have friends in the design and printing business who used to make a killing at this time of the year, designing and printing greeting cards and calendars of all colours. Now, they are killing nothing. Instead, digital technology has killed their hustle.

December is the month when the whole world goes on leave and celebrates Christmas. Usually, the quarrels and bickering in the world are put on hold. No… no, not this December! Yesterday, on December 1, the Israelis and Palestinians halted their one week old truce and 'pause'. They resumed the carpet bombing and slaughtering of thousands of innocent men, women and children in Gaza, not far from Bethlehem where Jesus was born!

Lest we forget, the Russians and Ukrainians remain at each other's throat and in Sudan, the rattling of firearms continues unabated. Instead of the December sound of beautiful carols in the air, the common people are tortured by the never-ending horror of rockets and missiles. The exchange of messages of goodwill has been replaced by the exchange of bullets and bombs!

Last December, the traumatized people of Nigeria, my homeland, held their breath. The suffering was almost unbearable. Those who can fast, fasted; those who can pray, prayed; those who can mobilize, mobilized and those who can campaign, campaigned. Like East African marathon runners, the Nigerian people sought to find that extra strength to get to the finish line. We said to ourselves, "After all, there would be elections in February 2023 and the Nigerian people would then have the chance to start digging the country out of the deep hole it has fallen into". We looked forward to the hopelessness of December 2022 giving way to hope by December 2023.

Very few people in Nigeria can tell you that they understand what happened to the country in 2023. Very few can explain how the hopelessness of December 2022 turned out to become despair in December 2023. Suddenly, nothing seems to make sense.

One of the features of the Nigerian society is that every December, millions move from the big cities to their villages where they celebrate with their kith and kin. How is that going to happen this December 2023? Transportation costs have spiraled out of control and security on the roads and in the villages has gone from bad to disastrous.

It took only a few words from the declared president of the Nigerian nation for the price of petroleum products to quadruple in a few days. That development has practically shot the cost of everything in Nigeria super sky high. Aided by the foreign exchange volatility, things have clearly fallen apart and the center can no longer hold. It is now so dangerous and expensive to travel to any destination in Nigeria. If you are driving, you have to have good money to fuel the car and enough to give to the ubiquitous men in uniform flagging you down practically every kilometer on the way. If you don't like that, you have to cough out the outrageously high cost of air travel in today's Nigeria. Head or tail, you lose.

One other feature of the Nigerian society is that every December, no matter how rich or poor you are, you are able to cook a good pot of rice supported by some bouncing chicken for you and your family to be part of the celebration. It is difficult to state what percentage of Nigerians can comfortably afford that now except for those with some pipe connected to government coffers. If you can buy the rice at the crazy price and buy the chicken, you also have to find the big money to buy the kerosene or gas to cook the food. I am sure that for many Nigerians, if they had their way, they would ask that this December be postponed!

Last December was challenging for me. I had a frightening battle with my health that dragged to much of the first quarter of 2023. For about three months, I was either in hospital, a diagnostic facility or a theatre for surgery. There were those who were not quite sure whether I would make it. Here I am, the guy who drives on a full tank of faith. It is another December and by God's grace, I am not in any hospital.

December had always been a special month for me and my family. My birthday is celebrated on December 22. Madam's is on December 24. My family's December celebrations begin on December 4 when Stephanie, my youngest daughter, was born. By now, you may be a little more familiar with Stephanie, my daughter who is in every way special and ready to give of her time and immense talent for the good of everyone.

If you cannot travel this December, please my friend, do not fret. If you cannot afford the kind of food you would have loved to eat or acquire the clothes you want, still do not fret. My prayer is that the Almighty will give you many better Decembers.

This December, I send felicitations to my friends and those who have not been so friendly. I particularly thank the thousands of members of the COSON family. May our tomorrow be better than our today. I beg Nigerians not to lose hope. I am certain that soon, we will have a December that we will remember with joy in our hearts. Warmest wishes to all of you who join me every week to partake in Saturday Breakfast.

See you next week.

NO AMOUNT OF ‘THANK YOU’ CAN EXPRESS MY GRATITUDE

NO AMOUNT OF 'THANK YOU' CAN EXPRESS MY GRATITUDE

These past few weeks, it has been celebration galore all around me. At some point, I was forced to ask myself, "what exactly have I done that the good Lord seems to have singled me out for his blessings?".  

Please, do not misunderstand me. I did not win the lotto neither have I made any big money. I still struggle to make ends meet like most Nigerians under the present economic environment. My heart is however filled with joy.

Please check it out: On October 27, there was the big celebration in Lagos of my service to the Nigerian creative industry by the Creative Industry Group (CIG) and a Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to me. On November 7, I had the big honour of chairing the historic and celebrated COSON AGM and royalty distribution at the magnificent COSON House in Lagos. On November 16, my son's wife, Andrea, gave birth in Dallas Texas to my bouncing grandson whom I had pre-named 'Tony Okoroji, the 3^rd' and on November 19, there was the wonderful celebration in Maryland USA of the 40^th Anniversary of my wedding to the beautiful Queen Mary. OMG! All within three weeks?!

I wish to thank my many friends across the world, some of whom I do not know, who have bombarded me with messages of goodwill. I thank the thousands of members of the COSON family who have stood staunchly by me through thick and thin. I cannot but thank the members of the COSON Board who have shown me camaraderie beyond what anyone in my position in Nigeria should expect. I specially thank you, Sir Shina Peters, my brother from another mother; the delectable Kenny Saint Best (KSB); Eng Sharon Esco Wilson Joshua; the great drummer and producer, Richard Ayodele Cole and Chief Uche Emeka Paul whom I fondly call 'Onye Ngozi' (the man of blessings).

I thank the multi–talented, restless and progressive Koffi Da Guru; the unshakable Sir Angus Nwangwu; the Righteousman, undisputed president of the 'Righteous Nation'; Oge Kimono, the very beautiful and brilliant "son" of my brother, the late Rub-A-Dub Master; Evangelist of the People, Olusegun Omoyayi and the super articulate Zdon Paporella. Oh yes, I thank my staff at TOPS Digital who are, more or less, an extension of my family.

I am a very lucky man and I thank the Almighty for the incredible protection he has given me in many trying circumstances and under conditions that would have sunk many men. For a guy who goes to church sparingly, it is a miracle!

Please, wind back the tape to December 7, 2017, when a well-planned coup was suddenly unleashed on me by some of my colleagues on the COSON Board, who wanted to hijack control of the organization. Despite the fact that I did not agree with the timing nor the procedure, I took my laptop and left COSON House. I did not complain to anyone. I did not quarrel with anyone. I did not insult anyone. Next day, I addressed the staff of COSON on speaker phone and asked them to go about their duties with confidence and pride and even work harder for the organization than they had done with me as chairman.

With the publishing of a press release saying that a younger colleague of mine had become Chairman of COSON, my phone began to ring off the hook.

Two days later, I wrote in this column, "What is in a title?". In the piece, I wrote, "I have spent enough time in leadership to understand the nature of man. The day we gathered the creme of Nigeria to commission the magnificent COSON House in Ikeja without borrowing one Naira from anyone, I very well knew what would happen after. With what I have seen, I am determined that COSON will not be a repeat of the PMAN story. It will take a lot of patience and wisdom but I trust the good Lord to give us the patience and wisdom to make COSON a continuing Nigerian success story".

I was taken aback by the response to that piece. There were a lot of comments from people whom I did not know have been watching COSON.

For as long as I live, I will never forget December 19, 2017 when COSON members after 12 days of my absence ushered me back into COSON House with thunderous ovation and overwhelming kindness. They refused to accept the coup and annulled it as they have the power to do. Of course, I cried in public. I cried because not many people live to witness such profound recognition and appreciation of their effort. I am lucky.

My traducers went on to publish incredibly defamatory things about me and twisted so many facts to run me down. They did not want anybody to have anything to do with me. With the media power they thought they have, they were sure they would mutilate my reputation forever. Oh! they did everything they could to destroy COSON and to destroy me and dragged in their friends in different government agencies to annihilate us. Man proposes but God disposes. Happily, COSON continues to be a Nigerian success story.

There are people who have asked me why I have refused to personally reply these people. I have chosen that my work speaks for me. In Igbo land, we have a saying that if you have undressed to have your bath and a mad man comes and runs away with your clothes, if you decide to run after the mad man naked, no one will know the difference between the two of you.

They want me to engage them in a quarrel so that they can promote their narrative that there are factions in COSON. They want me to help them to destroy COSON. I am not a fool. There are no factions in COSON, none whatsoever. Our board is one. Our Management is one. There is only one COSON office in Nigeria – the magnificent COSON House. Our members across every state of Nigeria support the board and management operating from COSON House which continues to sparkle. COSON is working like ever before.

I intend to answer their defamatory statements in every detail for posterity but not on Facebook. I am a solid believer in in the rule of law, even though the process meanders left and right until we get it right. I have gone to court because while you can make all the noise you want on Facebook and abuse anybody as you wish, in a court of law you are compelled to bring hard evidence to substantiate everything you say.  

The back-to-back celebrations in my life over the last three weeks is proof that the insidious effort to mutilate my reputation forever, has failed. There is no amount of gratitude that will adequately express my thanks.

See you next week.

Ps: Before the celebrations, I lost my elder sister, Martha, in Baltimore USA. She was a beautiful person with an exceedingly beautiful heart. May she rest in peace.

THE NON-STOP WORK THAT MADE PMAN A NATIONAL INSTITUTION & A HOUSEHOLD NAME.

 Last week, I told the story of how within three months of being elected President of PMAN, I abandoned my flourishing job at EMI, the international recording company, without any formal resignation and became a fulltime advocate of the Nigerian creative industry, without any salary.

Despite the tremendous activities we initiated at PMAN, the limitations of the association were obvious To close watchers, PMAN was short on staff, short on money, short on national spread but very strong in advocacy.

Indeed, a crop of journalists who were excited about the many stories that were constantly developing at PMAN made the PMAN secretariat at No 1 Oremeji Street, Ikeja, their primary beat. This group of journalists who began to be addressed as entertainment journalists gave the association wall-to-wall coverage. Among the journalists were the irrepressible Azuka Jebose Molokwu of The Punch, Jackson Ekwugum at Guardian Express, Alvan Ewuzie of Champion, Kenneth Tadaferua at the Mail, Siaka Momoh of Vanguard, Edmund Enaibe at The Republic and the Sierra Leonian born Kolosa Kargbo, a writer of immense talent.

The likes of Femi Akintunde Johnson, Jahman Anikulapo, Kunle Bakare, Hakeem Ikandu, Muka Popoola, Kazie Uko, Charles Okogene, Ifeanyi Nkennor, Ogbonna Amadi, Jude Arijaje, Wale Olomu, Biola Ogunduyile, Emma Agese, Zik Okafor etc, succeeded this initial group of journalists in the coverage of PMAN.

The biggest problem however was that the music industry was deeply fractured. There was significant mistrust between the major multinational recording companies and a lot of the indigenous companies. There was equally no love lost between the artistes and nearly all the companies.

A fiery gentleman called Aigbe Lebarty who had contested the PMAN presidency against me, filed several court cases and started a nasty media campaign, deploying a self published newspaper called Weekend Mirror. When he lost in court, Mr Lebarty resuscitated a long dead musicians' association called Nigerian Union of Musicians (NUM), declared himself president of NUM and did all he could to derail PMAN. My response was to ignore him into irrelevance. While this approach worked, it took a while because Mr Lebarty was a die-hard. The result was that too much energy was dissipated and the industry could not speak with one voice on the issues in which unity was badly needed.

One issue in which unity was absolutely necessary was the struggle for a new copyright regime. I engaged in rapid fire diplomacy and discussed this problem with some of the heads of the recording companies and we agreed that something needed to be done quickly to unite the industry. With the support of Bode Akinyemi, my former boss at EMI; Ton Seysner, Managing Director of Polygram Records; G.A.D. Tabansi of Tabansi Records; A.O. Awofala of RMNL and Keji Okunowo whose CBS Records had become a significant player, PMAN invited all sections of the industry to a lunch meeting at Lagos Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja on November 12, 1987.

The meeting was attended by the heads of all the major multinational and indigenous recording companies, the distributors, the manufacturing companies, the packaging manufacturers, the studio owners and a strong PMAN delegation. At the meeting which I presided over, the decision was taken to set up the Nigerian Association of Recording Industries (NARI) to act as a rallying point within the industry. The idea of NARI had been muted in the past but the energy to get it started was absent. Mrs Keji Okunowo was elected Chairman and Mr. Goddy Tabansi of Tabansi Records became Secretary.

The setting up of NARI began a period of unprecedented co-operation in the music industry. For about a year, the PMAN Secretariat hosted the secretariat of NARI and its meetings as the organization was nurtured. Later, NARI set up its own office at 272 Ikorodu Road,Lagos. A lot of problems which could have ended up in court were resolved on the NARI table. A lot of respect and co-operation also developed between me and Mrs Okunowo and we joined forces in the copyright fight. The birth of NARI was a chance for a new beginning.

The copyright campaign was going on at the same time that the wider structure of PMAN was being built across the country. In most places, the two objectives were tied. Acting General Secretary, Okuoimose E. Okuoimose was on the road, constantly setting up the framework for new PMAN chapters and arranging meetings everywhere.

It became our job to let every stratum of leadership in our nation to understand the very important role that Intellectual Property would play in a rapidly changing world. I had studied my subject well and spoke about it with clarity. Alongside other executive members, especially Ms Onwenu and Mr. Okuoimose, I spoke to State Governors such as Amadi Ikwechegh in Owerri; Bode George in Akure; Tunde Ogbeha in Uyo and later, in Benin; Tanko Ayuba in Kaduna and others in Enugu, Ilorin, Port Harcourt, Kano, Calabar, etc.

PMAN was constantly on the move and constantly in the news. At every location, the team spoke to the resident musicians, the media, police commissioners and commissioners responsible for culture. Some of the Commissioners we met were Sarah Jibrin in Ilorin, Chris Anyanwu in Owerri, Moses Ekpo in Uyo, Taiwo Alimi in Abeokuta, etc. The pursuit of the objectives took the unstoppable PMAN team to the palaces of the Emir of Kano, the Alaafin of Oyo, the Obi of Onitsha, the Paramount Ruler of Uyo, the Emir of Ilorin, the Obong of Calabar, the Eze Apara Rebisi in Port Harcourt, Eze Onuegwunwoke in Owerri, Eze Ikonne of Aba, etc.

It was indeed at the Palace of Eze Ikonne of Aba that I was surprised and conferred with my first Chieftaincy title,"Akaneme Uwa Obioma" - the hand that brings happiness to the world. . (To be continued)

See you next week.